African-Americans are victims of nearly half the murders committed in the United States despite making up only 13 percent of the population, a report published Thursday showed. Around 8,000 of nearly 16,500 murder victims in 2005, or 49 percent, were black Americans, according to the report released by the statistics bureau of the Department of Justice.

Broken down by gender, 6,800 black men were murdered in 2005, making up more than half the nearly 13,000 male murder victims.

Black women made up 35 percent, or 1,200, of the nearly 3,500 female homicide victims.

Young black men aged between 17 and 29 bore a disproportionately high burden in the grim statistics, making up 51 percent of African-American murder victims.

The percentage of white male murder victims in the same age group was 37 percent.

More than half the murders of blacks took place in densely populated urban areas.

Firearms were involved 77 percent of the time in homicides involving black people and around 60 percent of the time in murders of whites.

Most murder victims -- 93 percent of blacks and 85 percent of whites -- were killed by someone of their own race.

Gang violence was involved in around five percent of homicides with black victims against seven percent for white victims.

In percentage terms, whites were twice as likely to be killed by a current or former partner than blacks -- 12 percent of whites were murdered by a life partner against six percent of blacks.

Blacks were also at greater risk of rape or sexual assault than any other ethnic group except American Indians, the report showed.

NewsweekJuly 23, 2007 issue - I am at a party chatting with a woman I know slightly. As her young son squirms out of her embrace, she slips her hand under my shirt. She's not getting fresh with me. She's touching my tummy with her cold hand and asking me, in a concerned voice, "Why aren't you pregnant yet?" I smile, break free from her touch, and head to the food table to fill said empty belly with her brat's birthday cake.

I love children and definitely plan on having them. Maternal instinct is oozing out of my pores: I've infantilized my dogs; I've gotten down on my hands and knees at the park with babies I barely know. My marriage is wonderful and solid, and we are both blessed with good health. I've been a nanny, a teacher, a youth-group leader. I've taken childhood-development courses solely for the purpose of someday raising happy, balanced children. I have always looked forward to becoming a mother.

So why don't I have kids or even the inkling right now? It's because of you. Yes, you: the fanatical mothers of the world. It may seem like ages ago now, but you weren't always like this. You, too, were sneering at the obnoxious parents who brought their infants to fancy, adult, nighttime restaurants or R-rated movies and let them carry on, ruining things for other patrons. You've been terrible advertising for the club that you so desperately need others to join.

If you want me to join your ranks—and you've made it clear with your cold, clammy hands on my stomach that recruiting my uterus is of paramount importance to you—I need to set some ground rules.

First, please stop asking me when I'm going to get pregnant.

For all you know, I cannot have kids. For all I know, I cannot have kids, as I have not yet tried. But imagine how painful this line of interrogation would be if I had submitted to all kinds of procedures, only to come up empty-wombed. It would be emotionally devastating. Yet ever since the day after my wedding two years ago, I have fielded this question from the eye doctor, the dental assistant, my yoga teacher, the bagger at the grocery store. All of them feel entitled to ask. Don't. It's none of your business.

Next, don't completely abandon your own life and passions. You're setting a bad example for aspiring mothers-to-be like me.

I recently expressed my happiness over an achievement I had at work to a mother-friend of mine. She said, dripping with condescension, "Well, you don't know happiness until you've had a baby."

That's very possible, but don't rain on my parade, as I've never said to you, "Remind me, when you went to that expensive college you majored in diaper-rash prevention, right?"

I happen to love my job. It fulfills me in ways no other person—even a child—could. I learned through my own mother's example that the best lesson you can teach your kids is to pursue their passions. It's not selfish to have your own life. In fact, it's selfish not to.

Now let's talk a bit about manners, as in please teach your children some. The world has rules, and kids should learn them. And being well mannered does not infringe on their individuality and freedom.

I crouched to meet the eye line of an acquaintance's 4-year-old to greet her, and in response, she punched me in the face so hard my mouth bled. What was more baffling was the mother's reaction: nothing to the child, but to me she said very sternly: "You really shouldn't talk down to kids."

I also shouldn't be punched in the face by kids whose parents don't know how to set basic boundaries. Experiences like this don't exactly encourage me to hurry up and get pregnant.

Finally, don't make your kid an extension of your own narcissism.

No one could possibly love your kids as much as you do, so stop inflicting them on others. Don't bring your kid to adult parties when you're not sure if it's kid-friendly. If they didn't invite your kid, they don't want your kid there. If you don't want to get a babysitter, stay home.

My husband thinks some people, particularly mothers, behave in these ways because it helps them validate their own choices. But he doesn't truly understand how infuriating it is, and that's because nobody badgers men with questions about procreation.

Becoming a parent was your decision, and I am thrilled for you. All I'm asking is that you let me make that choice in my own time. And keep your hands off my belly.

I am not shocked by anything in the article though except for the last line. Who knew?!?!

I'm not surprised, given the objectification of women in the inner city. I'm sure hispanic women aren't too far behind.

Oh, you must be mistaken. Didn't you know -- it's just music!

I think you're putting too much blame on music and too little on issues of poverty and culture. Music is just a symptom of underlying problems.

I don't think it's a matter of too much blame. I do believe that, to some extent, the music is a product of (or symptom of, as you said) the underlying issues plaguing the inner city. At the same time, I don't think the buck stops with the music. The music, in turn, helps perpetuate the issues (ie violence, misogyny, substance abuse, etc.) by glorifying and legitimizing those things that need to be actively dismantled, destroyed, etc.

I say this because words and ideas always have consequences. Words are containers of power. The power of life and death is in the tongue. It's a universal truth. (I could go on and on about that, too, but suffice it to say here that in the same way the world was created by the spoken word, we have also been given the ability AND RESPONSIBILITY to use our words to shape the world around us, too. How we use that power is up to us.) In a nutshell though, to think that it's only the "underlying problems" and not acknowledge the role that music has in catalyzing their continuance would be shortsighted.

That said, people will always come down on both sides of this issue, and I don't think we disagree in principle all that much anyway. Music is not the source of the inner city's problems, but it doggone sure doesn't seem to be playing a part in the solution either!

WASHINGTON - A new study shows that teachers tend to view the behavior of black girls as not "ladylike" and therefore focus disciplinary action on encouraging behaviors like passivity, deference, and bodily control at the expense of curiosity, outspokenness, and assertiveness.

Based on two years' observation at a Texas middle school, the Ohio University study found that teachers' class- and race-based assumptions of black femininity made them more likely to discourage behaviors and characteristics that lead to class involvement and educational success. The teachers' actions appeared to be less the result of conscious racism or sexism than an unwitting tendency to view the behavior of black girls through a different lens than that of their peers.

Among the findings of the study: black girls who actively sought out the positive attention of their teachers in class by asking questions were reprimanded by teachers, while boys and girls of other racial and ethnic groups behaving similarly were rarely disciplined in the same manner for their actions.

"As teachers, we are taught to encourage student curiosity and confidence because they're great indicators of academic engagement. If our own unconscious stereotypes are prompting teachers to 'correct' those behaviors in young black girls, school systems need to look carefully at including this problem of teachers' perceptions and assumptions in their diversity training," said Taneika Taylor, director of the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition's Children As They Are program.

One reason why educators might emphasize "ladylike" behavior unfavorable to academic success has to do with their perception of black female students as prematurely adult -- particularly with regard to their sexuality.

"A lot of the females, especially Black females here, try to have some authority over me in class. I say to them 'Uh-uh--I'm the only adult in here.' But they think they are adults too..." said Ms. Duncan, a teacher at the observed school.

The study found that many teachers described black female students as too sexually provocative in dress and behavior, a finding consistent with a 2004 study which found that girls of color are pre-tracked for underachievement because of teacher beliefs that they are hypersexual and willing to invest more energy in their appearance than in academic pursuits.

"Young girls need to be encouraged by educators and parents to achieve and explore, not to curb their enthusiasm for life and learning in order to be 'proper ladies'," said Taneika Taylor, director of the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition's Children As They Are program.

Children As They Are supports parents and educators in creating environments that are safe for all children to express themselves authentically and explore all of their interests, talents, and feelings -- whether or not they're considered "right" for boys or girls. For more information, visit www.gpac.org/cata.

I am not shocked by anything in the article though except for the last line. Who knew?!?!

I'm not surprised, given the objectification of women in the inner city. I'm sure hispanic women aren't too far behind.

Oh, you must be mistaken. Didn't you know -- it's just music!

Actually, re: abuse (including forced sexual assault of a partner, etc.) there's been some credible theorizing regarding perceived powerlessness in life (socially, economically) in the face of an overwhelming "masculine" mythos, and the ways in which that provokes men to seek and wield power over the only beings and/or aspects of their lives they feel they can control - the women who are similarly trapped.

Since many times rape is about power more than it is about sex, it's a theory worth examining as much as the objectification, IMO.